Police Shoot Minneapolis Photographer With Rubber Bullet

Police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, shot an award-winning photographer from WCCO-TV with a rubber bullet and arrested him, according to the television station.

“BREAKING: A veteran WCCO photographer is under arrest, taken into custody by the State Patrol. Award-winning photographer Tom Aviles was struck by a rubber bullet,” WCCO-TV wrote on Twitter.

Aviles recorded himself being shot by the rubber bullet. Watch that video here:

Patrick Kessler, a journalist with the station, reported that the Corrections Commissioner called the incident “regrettable.”

“WCCO photographer shot with rubber bullet, arrested: ‘Regrettable’ says Corrections Commissioner. Because of crowd, tactics, smoke devices, police have challenges. Reporters are also masked. ‘We value and know the importance’ of journalists, he says,” Kessler reported.

The incident occurred on the evening of May 30.

The Photographer Is Now Out of Custody

WCCO-TV reported that the photographer “has been struck by a rubber bullet and taken into custody by the State Patrol Saturday night.” The station initially said that Aviles is “OK,” and they were working to free him.

WCCO-TV later posted that Aviles was out of custody.

Joan Gilbertson, a veteran producer, told the television station that a police officer said to her, “You’ve been warned, or the same thing will happen to you. Or you’re next.”

Heavy has reached out to the Minnesota State Patrol for comment, which will be added to this story if it is received.

The photographer’s shooting comes as protests and riots escalate in Minneapolis and throughout the country.

A series of other intense videos also emerged from cities throughout the country as George Floyd protests and riots escalated into violence in some areas. For example, in Chicago there was an all-out street brawl between police officers and protesters, according to this video. In Atlanta, a video caught a bicycle officer shoving a bike at a woman. Protesters threw an American flag in a river outside Trump Tower in Chicago. In Oakland, a federal protection officer was shot and killed. In New York City, videos captured two NYPD squad cars running over protesters. In Salt Lake City, a man with a bow and arrow was taken down by protesters. In Dallas, a man covering the unrest wrote that a man was “stoned” with rocks by “looters.”

The latest Minneapolis incident was part of a series of protests and riots that escalated throughout the United States in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A viral video showed a police officer, Derek Chauvin, with his knee on Floyd’s neck. Floyd died, Chauvin and three other officers were fired, and Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter charges. Businesses were torched and looted in Minneapolis, and the protests and riots then spread throughout the country in many major cities, with some peaceful and some not.

The shooting of the photographer came after the earlier arrest of a CNN crew in Minneapolis.

In that incident, CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez was led away in handcuffs. You can read more about that incident here.

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